Five Years of Emptiness
by 23-17-46-11
Summary: It has been five years since Penny's death and it still haunts Dr. Horrible but he continues his work with the Evil League of Evil, that is until a distraction moves into his life. *I'm going to rate it T purely because there will be scenes of a criminal nature (Bank Hold-Ups and Murder.) but nothing overly graphic. Just erring on the side of caution.*
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again! So a new chapter AND a new story. Ain't I doing well tonight? So this one came as a result of a chance encounter with a**

**youtube video, you know the one! Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog! Give it a shot and lemme know what you think!**

**Reviews are love!**

**Oh, before I forget, I own nothing. **

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It had been five years. Five very long, but at the same time incredibly short, years. Five years since Penny had died. The Doc was still mourning her, I doubted he'd ever truly stop.

See the day she died he had been triumphant finally in his attempts to get into The Evil League of Evil. It had been his last chance to get in and Bad Horse wanted him to commit murder. Terrified but determined all the same the Doc knew what he had to do; kill Captain Hammer. I had to admit, it killed two birds with one stone. So he planned every detail, right down to how long his laugh would last and what he would whisper to Captain Hammer's frozen in time body. There he was, stood beneath the red cloth that was supposed to be covering a statue commemorating Hammer, his freeze ray and death ray at the ready and at just the right moment, he threw it off and pressed the trigger. He gave his speech and prepared to pull the trigger of the Death Ray. That's when it all went wrong, the Freeze Ray began to power down and in his confusion at the machine he looked back only to be caught off-guard with a punch to the jaw from Hammer. He went flying through the air and so did his death ray. When they landed both slid along the floor a little before coming to a stop. He couldn't even grab his death ray to end it because he had landed a few feet behind it and Captain Hammer had jumped off the stage right in front of it.

"What's this? A Death Ray?" He mused, "Doctor Horrible's going up in the world."

I couldn't even help him because it would ruin his chances of getting into the league if I helped, although his chances were seeming pretty slim right now.

Hammer aimed the machine at Doc and grinned but Doc tried to warn him.

"Don't~" was all he got out before Hammer interupted him.

"I don't have time for your warnings! Give my regards to Saint Peter, or whoever does his job but in Hell." Then he fired.

But it backfired and exploded, throwing Hammer backwards and pieces of the machine flew every which way.

I vaguely heard him whining about being in pain but my eyes were transfixed on another scene and when Doc looked over at me and saw my face he turned to look too.

Penny. Penny had a part of the Death Ray deep in her gut and the blood was just spilling out. All things were lost to him, no one was around and nothing else mattered as he landed at Penny's side. He needed her to hold on but that wasn't possible. I think even he knew she was going to die, no one could sustain so much blood loss and god only knows what that jagged piece of metal had severed on it's journey into her gut. Her last words to him were what killed him "Don't worry, Captain Hammer will save us." and then her eyes fluttered shut, not to open again. She was gone.

Then reporters flocked the scene, they were asking him questions but he had emotionally shut down. He did hear one reporter though, this man's question broke through his mental barriers

"Dr Horrible, why did you kill her?"


	2. Chapter 2

Ugh, I am awful at updating I am sorry! Bear with me though, this is actually going somewhere... Eventually :P

Anyway, have chapter two. Btw, I own nothing sadly.

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His first meeting with the Evil League of Evil had been the very next day and I had stepped into his flat half an hour before to wish him good luck, that is when I noticed it… Well you could hardly miss it really. His lab coat had went from the usual white to a deep crimson.

"Doc, you changed your… It's a different colour." I was dumbfounded to the change, though I had my suspicions as to the change in colour but I couldn't stop the question before it escaped. "Why?"

"It was time for a change. New era, new colour." He said. It was a lie, I knew it and he knew it but he told it anyway. His voice had lost all emotion, namely that spark it used to have. I can't describe it but I suppose the most simple way to put it is 'hope'. There was no trace of it in his voice left and his face read blank too as if he had been reset to factory settings, all feelings forgotten when in fact they were just suppressed.

A quite 'oh' was all I gave in response and he looked at me, straight into my eyes and that's when I saw the feelings he was suppressing. He had hidden all traces from his voice and behaviours but his eyes at that point gave a glance into a broken heart and mangled soul. Then as quickly as his guard had slipped, his eyes went glassy and all traces of his emotional state was gone.

"I have to go." He said and swept out of the apartment without another word.

I nodded but it was a delayed reaction and he was already out the door. Sinking down onto his couch, I sighed and my shoulders drooped. Sure I was proud of him for getting into the ELE he had tried long and hard enough for it but I couldn't help feeling as if getting there had, ultimately, been the destruction of that brilliant mind. He had swore he would not kill. Then when it was his only option he was afraid but somewhere deep inside came a side of him he had been hiding for a long time.

His sudden change to red instead of white just proved how emotional he was, it could be said that while he wore white he was moral to a point, pure of heart and relatively harmless but now the red presented him as a threat, someone to fear. I knew that it was a reminder of what he lost. The bloodstain on his white lab coat was the reminder but the red lab coat was him wearing his guilt. That was the only way he would acknowledge it, he couldn't curl up and close off like I think part of him wanted to.

I hardly knew how to help him come to terms with it all, I truly wanted him to. That way at least he might see that he had what he always wanted even if he didn't want it anymore. It was soiled now. But I knew the Doc would repress it and continue as he was.

I remember sitting there in his dark apartment for hours just staring into space, thinking.

Suddenly his door opened and he stepped inside.

"Jeez! Moist, you gave me a fright. Whatcha doin' sitting in the dark like that?" His face still recovering from the fright but his eyes were glassy and unfeeling.

"I.. Uh."

It wouldn't have mattered what I was trying to say because he turned on his heel and went to his bench of experiments.

I slipped out the door with barely a sound and headed home. He wouldn't notice my having left for some time yet and when he did I doubt he would care.

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**So my account is flipping out on me and wouldn't tell me this story had a review so I only got it yesterday. As it happened, yesterday was an awful day and reading that review really cheered me up! So thank you xxxkawaiikandixxx**

**I wasn't kidding when I said reviews are love :)F**


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing and make no apologies for what I have done in this chapter...**

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For all the bad press about Doctor Horrible, no one ever mentioned the fact that it had been him to give Penny a cremation ceremony. He paid for it all, every single thing.

It had been brought up in conversation between them once, he told me, that she wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered over the church her mother and father had gotten married. It was a beautiful building back then but now it was derelict. Not enough money to keep it going.

Penny's mother and Father had died when a bridge collapsed. They had been on holiday according to Penny, in the north of Scotland. They, along with fifteen others, were never recovered.

Billy was the sole attendee that day.

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**So assuming that emotionally compromised you, as it did me, when you get around to forgiving me do leave a review. Next chapter the story takes a more cheerful turn.**


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